Should you eat rabbit?

Douglas Coupland’s Generation A is a story about a time when all the world’s bees have died and everybody is hooked on a drug that makes them want to be alone.

It’s full of Coupland’s characteristic little asides and stories, including one where the highly-politicised, overwrought and transitory girlfriend of one of the characters freaks out and leaves him when she discovers that he has a rabbit in the fridge for dinner.

I’ve experienced this sort of reaction to rabbit a couple of times, although it must be said that rabbit eating has never precipitated a change in personal circumstances on the scale that Coupland describes, but there have been a few people who’ve eyed me with deep suspicion on finding out that I eat rabbit sometimes.

There’s normally a little glance, and then a stare as they realise that, no, I’m not joking, I really do eat rabbit, and then there’s often a nervous silence whilst they try to work out what to say.

I normally stay quiet and let them feel uncomfortable. I know, I know…it’s a bit mean, isn’t it?

I don’t want to suggest that eating rabbit is taboo. It isn’t, not in the same way that eating horse meat is a complete no-go for the British (but, inexplicably, completely acceptable to the French).

There are more subtle qualities to the question of whether to eat rabbit or not.

People associate rabbits with cute childhood pets, and distance themselves from eating it for this reason, a misplaced loyalty to a long-dead pet, perhaps? This is an understandable position – cute does often equal hard to eat.

It’s understandable until you factor in the lamb effect, that is. All those militant rabbit lovers, so quick to eat a young spring lamb…

More than anything with rabbit and its status in the kitchen, the British have short memories.

Rabbit used to be a staple food, a cheap, lean and nutritious meat. During the war, many people kept rabbits and chickens to supplement the meager meat ration. Maybe it’s this association with wartime frugality and hardship, alongside the staged myxomatosis outbreaks of the 1950s which put people off eating rabbit and consigned it to a rural game speciality, something a little out of the ordinary.

People just lost the habit and rabbit fell out of fashion.

It’s interesting that a foodstuff as seemingly common as rabbit meat could fall so far out of favour in such a short period of time. It would seem inconceivable for this to happen today – imagine a world without chickens?

The real truth is that rabbit never really went away.

You’ve always been able to get rabbit from any decent butcher, who normally knows a farmer only too willing to earn fifty pence a head as a by product of vermin control.

But is it time for a rabbit revival? Should the humble bunny be back on our national plates?

I think you can probably guess where this is going, and if you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’ll have noticed the odd rabbit recipe sneaking in here and there. Confit rabbit was particularly good, especially once I’d dredged the confitted pieces in breadcrumbs and deep fried them.

Rabbit has got a lot going for it. These are just some of the highlights:

it’s cheap

it’s relatively plentiful, if your butcher is worth his salt. You won’t normally find rabbit on a supermarket shelf, but you shouldn’t really be buying meat from a supermarket anyway. Find a good butcher and get to know him.

the meat itself is high in protein, low in cholesterol and tends to be lean.

a rabbit carcass also has a high proportion of meat to bone, meaning that you get more meat for your money.

It isn’t particularly strongly flavoured – there’s a hint of gaminess about it, but that’s all – making it useful nearly anywhere where chicken would normally be used.

Yesterday, my rabbit dish was extremely rustic. I marinaded the jointed rabbit in a rough mixture of bashed up garlic cloves, bruised rosemary leaves, a good glug of rapeseed and olive oils and the juice and zest of a lemon. A good seasoning of salt and pepper went in as well and the whole lot sat in the fridge for the whole day before being roasted in a hot oven. The bigger, thicker shoulders and haunch pieces had about thirty-five minutes, the smaller bits about twenty-five.

Served with some bread and a simple tomato salad, this is rustic Italian food at its simplest and its best.

There’s no fuss and nonsense here, it’s just good flavours and ingredients that play well together.

And the cost?

Three quid.

Bargain.

Do you eat rabbit? If you don’t, tell us why not, and if you do, tell us why you love it.

I adore rabbit. When we were kids living on the outskirts of Atlanta, we would trap at least 2 rabbits every winter. It is the perfect winter protein. Nothing tastes like it. My mom would use it instead of pigeon when she made Bastila (still one of my favorite dishes.)

My mum was from Malta were rabbit is a national dish (done in garlic , tomatoes and boiled potatoes) … this could be due the fact that everything is built up and so no farmyard animals hardly anywhere.

I only stopped eating them as when I was younger my aunty invited me to play with the rabbit in the bath tub and then 5 mins later held it by the ears and karate chopped the neck to kill and then made me hold on while she skinned … in fact she only asked me to play with the rabbit to relax it not to stress the meat…. the meat is lovely delicate however this memory has lead me to no longer eat it but htose who do rabbit liver and kidney is also very nice

I keep meaning to start eating rabbit, I did buy hare a few months ago from Leeds farmers Market but never got round to eating it. Need to sort it out and make a nice rabbit stew defo got the weather for it.

Meat is not my thing but this was certainly a well written and thought out posting. I'd be interested to know how much "greener" a rabbit is than a cow. I'll bet a lot. I'm going to advocate that my parents get some in addition to their flock of rabbits, turkeys and ducks. Thanks for posting such an intelligent, thought provoking piece.

Oh, definitely, though it is hard to come by in the U.S. I had pet rabbits and I understand the quandry, but really, if you are going to eat meat, it is far better to eat a bunny than a CAFO-farmed cow.

I'll happily eat spring lamb so I can't pretend squeamishness when faced with rabbit. Free-range, virtually fat free, and as light as chicken without all the nasty stuff associated with battery farms – except, like you say, I had a rabbit as a pet so I have this moment, just before I lift the fork to my lips, of utter revulsion. And then I get over it. Your dish makes me think I should eat rabbit more often.

I eat rabbit! And lamb. And goat. And bison. And quail. And a lot of other things people seem to think are really odd or unacceptable proteins. Not sure what the hang up is…but it's so much better than eating chicken!

I love this post. This is such a consternating issue for me personally on a larger scale (would love YOUR feedback on this which I wrote: http://tinyurl.com/39w4k5a). I think you are totally correct about the association with the animal making it difficult. If you have been raised eating certain animals as a norm, chances are your 'energy' about it will be more drama-free. I thnk rabbit is not a mainstream meat in the U.S. therefore allowing more of an emotional reaction.

I think I have had a more major shift in selection priorities based on CAFO raised meet, issues and humanity associated with that. I want to know my source for all my meat and in many cases know the animal before it becomes meat. Have not explored rabbit locally. You've given me something to think about! Thanks for that.

I do eat rabbit though it's not a favourite of mine. That said, I did have some rather nice rabbit rillettes recently.

I confess, even amongst my completely utterly NON foodie friends, I've never had any disgust or even surprise expressed at rabbit. I think most people have come across it, even if they don't eat it themselves.

I had one mate as a kid who wouldn't, because she had a pet bunny. But that's it!

I love rabbit, but I find it so exhausting to prepare. So many little bones, such little whisps of meat. It's tasty as all get out, but I am not a huge fan of dealing with it. Maybe I always just get super scrawny rabbits… 🙁

I've had rabbit in Greece before (as well as baby lamb) and both we're delicious. Goat particularly actually. It just seemed <a>right given that both were local, wild and part of the island, which more than overcame the cute factor. Perhaps I deem that a bit more rational but maybe it's no more arbitrary than collated childhood influences?

I've noticed rabbit on the menu of a few of the independent pubs that pride themselves on dining but unfortunately it's never cheap in those places, the Cross Keys in Leeds does rabbit terrine I think?

Would be really interested to know the carbon footprint of rabbit and have they ever been reared en-masse for meat?

Mark, yes, rabbit has been farmed quite extensively, although it's very easy to get wild meat, especially close to the countryside. Not sure about the carbon footprint – very low for wild meat, I'd expect.

My friends dad gets a lot of wild rabbit, he works for a stables and rabbit holes are quite dangerous for the horses, so it's kind of a requirement of the job. Do you think that farming isn't well known or as extensive in this country because of the association of rabbits as pets?

I've never actually seen rabbit around, as a meat, but I don't particularly like them as pets. So I'm totally fine with eating them. From all my storybooks from older times it seems like they always ate rabbit stew, and I've associated it with being lush and tender.

I buy rabbit in Bradford Market. just aask the butcher to
chop one up please and he chops it into nice chunks. stewed with
sage and onion is favourite. first memory of eating rabbit is being
about 3 years old and iving on Leeds Road, Mirfield, West Yorkshire
and my mother calling to neighbour to get her a rabbit as he was
wlaking along to th corn fields with his shotgun. he brought a
rabbit but charged half a crown which was a great shock to my
mother as money was relly short in our house. as she cut it up she
gave me the pellets that had killed it.

Can’t approve of eating hare, sorry, but rabbit? Got a rabbit casserole on the go at the moment, with apples and cider and shallots and garlic and lots of other bits and bobs….

would rather eat wild game than supermarket bought meat but have wonderful local butcher who sources locally, and have a chum who catches rabbit for the pot, and pheasant and quail, so get things from him from time to time!

I grew up with rabbits kept for the pot as well as from the butcher so have never had a problem but my daughter has never forgiven me for serving rabbit when she was a child. I blame Richard Adams and Mike Batt.